European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance Criticizes Finland

The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance accuses Finland of placing many asylum seekers in a Catch-22 situation. They are being granted so-called “B permits” which allow for temporary asylum, but at the same time they are denied the right to work or even to be reunited with their families. So, people from areas like Iraq or Somalia are being told they can stay – temporarily – but while in Finland they can’t work.

It should be pointed out that only 2.5% of the total Finnish population falls into the category of being an immigrant. This does reveal a slight rise since the figure was 1.8% five years ago. Finland is like so many European nations, which historically had limited immigration from African or Middle Eastern nations. It was quite common in France, where I attended college in 1954-1955, that the only contact most French people had with Africans consisted of students from colonies attending colleges. The post war shift toward dramatic improvement in standards of living has led to post industrial society people to import labor for the dirty work.

At some point European societies and the United States will have to recognize, the price one pays for such policies is the need for massive infusion of money into educational systems so that first generation children of immigrants become integrated within the high tech economy.Information from Helsingin Sanomat